#continuing my

Jet spits the word “uncle” like it’s an insult. Zuko is caught of guard, it’s not what he expected. He denies it, of course, angrily. His uncle is a great man! How dare Jet say something like that?!

It escalates from there. Yelling ensures.

In the end, Jet demands that Li look him in the eye and say with full honesty that “his uncle” wouldn’t hurt anyone. That his uncle would never do something like that (pointing at Zuko’s scar) and never has in the past. 

And Zuko... Zuko can’t.

Because at this point he has realized the things his uncle did during the war. That he has killed. That he has torn families apart.

So he stays silent and looks away.

He is again caught of guard when Jet hugs him gently and whispers in his ear, “You don’t have to stay with him. This city is a save haven. Please trust me.”

And Zuko is terrified of being found out and overwhelmed and doesn’t know what to do. For a moment, he nearly wishes that Jet was right, wishes that he could just say “yes” and Jet would fix everything for him. But that wasn’t the situation, that wasn’t what was going on, so he decided to be truthful -- to a degree. He has always been an awful liar.

Still engulfed in Jet’s arms, he whispers, “It wasn’t Uncle. I wasn’t lying about that.”

Jet waits for him to continue.

“It was my father. It... he was a bad man. He hurt me. But Uncle isn’t like that! Not anymore. He changed. We just want a new live here in Ba Sing Se.”

That last part isn’t even a lie anymore. Zuko had come to, not quite enjoy, but at least accept his new live. Uncle was thriving. It was good. Not perfect, but good.

And for the first time in a long time, Zuko was guilt free. Not only had he come to reject his father’s impossible expectations, he had also realized the devastation the Fire Nation caused all across the world and was no longer participating in it.

“Your uncle... He is your real uncle? You don’t just call him that?” Jet’s voice was shaking slightly when he asked the question.

Zuko nodded.

“And you are... I mean, do you... are you... You aren’t a fire bender, are you?”

Jet sounded so unsure. Previously, he has been full of confidence and reassurances. But that only made sense, in retrospect, Zuko realized. This whole time, he thought he had to save Li and be there for him, but now the situation was turning on its head and his world was getting shattered.

Instead of replying, Zuko looked away.

“Okay... okay, I think I need a moment,” Jet said after taking a few deep breaths.

He sat down on the ground and buried his head in his hands. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. This wasn’t how it was supposed to turn out.

All he wanted was to get Li away from his fire bending pretend-uncle, but now Li was a fire bender himself? A few month ago, Jet would have seen that as the only important piece of information. All fire benders were bad. But that wasn’t true, was it?

Li had been hurt. His mother, too, most likely.

He took a few more breaths before getting up and asking, “You said your uncle isn’t like that anymore. Does he pose any danger currently? To anyone?”

“No,” Zuko was quick to reply. Maybe a bit too quick, but he had full trust in his uncle. “We just want to start a new live here. Same as you.”

Jet still had trouble wrapping his mind around that, but Li was his friend. He was on the run from the Fire Nation, too, even if he was a fire bender. And Li was right, Jet wanted to start a new live. In order to do that, he had to let go of his old biases.

So here’s my makeover of the Goth family. In my head, Mortimer (pleasure/knowledge) had a midlife crisis after Bella’s abduction, in which he switched aspirations, joined a rock band, dated Dina Caliente (briefly), and got an absolute shitload of tattoos. 

Bella (knowledge/family) is now a retired college professor who gives lectures in her free time at SSU. Don’t let the fact she was abducted by aliens fool you- she still has a mean left hook.

Cassandra (knowledge/family) is a dentist. I don’t know why. It just felt right. She’s best friends with both Don (her fiance) and Mary-Sue, but is only in love with one of them.